Not a Girl Detective (A Cece Caruso Mystery, #2)

Reading Not A Girl Detective A Cece Caruso Mystery, 2 Author Susan Kandel Easyfaroairporttransfers.co.uk I Spent My Entire Youth Idolizing Nancy Drew I M Pushing Forty Now, But Some Fantasies Die Hard Besides Her Beloved Collection Of Vintage Designer Clothing, There Is Nothing Cece Caruso Cherishes Than Her Childhood Memories Of Nancy Drew Her Near Obsession With The Fictional Teenage Sleuth Led Her To Become A Professional Biographer Of Classic Mystery Writers And Now That She S Working On A Book About Nancy S Pseudonymous Creator, Carolyn Keene, Cece S In Heaven.At The L A Home Of Another Rabid Drew Ophile, Cece Finds A Treasure Trove Of Useful Memorabilia, Including One Unique And Somewhat Shocking Collectible Later She Finds A Dead Body And A Puzzle That Would Sorely Test The Skills Of Her Spunky Girlhood Heroine Now She Ll Have To Channel Her Former Idol And Unmask A Murderer, And The Killer May Be Coming For Cece Next. Rating Clarification 1.5 StarsThis wasn t what I was hoping for I was expectingNancy Drew trivia and less vintage clothing, diet cokes and slutty side kicks It doesn t bode well when you dislike the main heroine, her friends, her love interest, the mystery, the writing style and at least for me the confusion of the plot in general.I m bumping my 1 star up to 1.5 because I did enjoy those few and far between references to Nancy Drew Carolyn Keene and the publishing syndicate that creat Rating Clarification 1.5 StarsThis wasn t what I was hoping for I was expectingNancy Drew trivia and less vintage clothing, diet cokes and slutty side kicks It doesn t bode well when you dislike the main heroine, her friends, her love interest, the mystery, the writing style and at least for me the confusion of the plot in ge I really liked the premise of this book an author writing a biography of the pen name Carolyn Keene, but it wasn t well written at all the details frankly were confusing and didn t make a lot of sense Also, it was distracting that the main character was supposedly from Asbury Park, NJ there hasn t been a white person living in Asbury for about 50 years, so as a NJ resident, I can say that didn t lend much credibility to this author I kept thinking How would this Italian girl have survived I really liked the premise of this book an author writing a biography of the pen name Carolyn Keene, but it wasn t well written at all the details frankly were confusing and didn t make a lot of sense Also, it was distracting that the main character was supposedly from Asbury Park, NJ there hasn t been a white person living in Asbury for about 50 years, so as a NJ resident, I can say that didn t lend much credibili Another wonderful entry in the CeCe Caruso series I love reading about her wonderful vintage clothes, some little tidbits of information about people, places, things and mystery facts she is working on, all told in her dry sense of humor.Not a rip roaring mystery but it flows along at a leisurely pace and has many side story lines along with CeCe s every day life Perfect combination as far as I m concerned.The only thing that held me back from reading this quickly was that I had to keep checki Another wonderful entry in the CeCe Caruso series I love reading about her wonderful vintage clothes, some little tidb Really the ONLY redeeming thing about this book was the series of references to the Nancy Drew books I would love to see a better series of these that focus on various girls series.Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Betsy Ray Not quite as enjoyable as I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason but still very good If you liked Nancy Drew, you will like this book There was also a lot of interesting factual detail, and, as always, I loved the Southern California settings. This is the second book in this series and the third that I have read Unlike the other two, I knew nothing about the topic that Cece is writing about I never read or watched any Nancy Drew mysteries Because of that it s harder for me to guess where historical fact ends and the author s imagination and poetic license begin.Like the other books that I have read, the protagonist is writing a biography of a fiction icon, in this case the fictional authoress Carolyn Keene Despite my handicap of k This is the second book in this series and the third that I have read Unlike the other two, I knew nothing about the topic that Cece is writing about I never read or watched any Nancy Drew mysteries Because of that it s harder for me to guess where historical fact ends and the author s imagination and poetic license begin.Like th I was looking for a frothy read as I trolled the library shelves and, what could be lighter than a contemporary mystery involving a group of Nancy Drew fans This is my second novel by Kandel and she must somehow channel my quirky interests Her first novel I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason appealed to me as the proud owner of 110 black and white episodes of 1950 s 60 s Perry Mason episodes And the Nancy Drew theme has similar appeal.It was a bonus that some of the book s action takes place I I was given this book to read by a friend who bought it for a quarter It is a cute detective story, definitely not hard boiled, about a woman who is a die hard Nancy Drew fan As you can imagine, it is light hearted and whimsical even at its most serious At the climax, Cece does the vill This book was a sad disappointment The premise is great, and could have been truly interesting, but it just doesn t work I read the first 100 pages hoping things would get better, but the writing was so poor, the details confusing, the characters just sort of blah, a I looked for this book at the library because I heard that it had a Nancy Drew Caroline Keene connection Several other vintage girls series were mentioned, too That was the part that I enjoyed reading The main character, Cece Caruso, drives a blue car in this book while hers is in the shop, has quirky friends, she came from New Jersey Asbury Park , had an early marriage that didn t last and now has an Italian cop boyfriend Gambino so I might have compared her to Stephanie Plumb in Janet E I looked for this book at the library because I heard that it had a Nancy Drew Caroline Keene connection Several other vintage girls series were mentioned, too That was the part that I enjoyed reading The main character, Cece Caruso, drives a blue car in this book while hers is in the shop, has quirky friends, she came from New Jersey Asbury Park , had an early marriage that didn t last and now has an Italian cop boyfriend Gambino so I might have compared her to Stephanie Plumb in Janet Evanovich s series who often borrows Big Blue, a 53 powder blue Buick, has quirky friends, comes from New Jersey Trenton , had an early marriage that didn t last, and now has an Italian cop boyfriend Morelli if this book had been better In the Stephanie Plumb books, it is already a stretch for readers to believe that she is still so immature in her 30 s Cece Caruso is 40 I think I sprained something When she is on the job, Stephanie generally wears practical clothes like jean